Passers-by, bandits and victims of “bwa kale” regularly meet with death in most intersections in Port-au-Prince.
[Attention! Cet article contient des images potentiellement choquantes]
It was one hour and twenty-eight minutes on Tuesday, May 7 when, on the filthy sidewalk of Avenue Christophe in Port-au-Prince, the corpse of a man caught fire.
Near the motionless body, near Lafleur Ducheine, a pile of rubbish spread a nauseating odor, adding to the atmosphere already weighed down by the plumes of smoke rising above the scene.
The same decor is repeated along several other arteries in the surrounding area, including Street 4, now nicknamed “cemetery” or “kafou lanmò”. Throughout the metropolitan region, there are at least ten, if not more, of these intersections.
Smoke rising from a burning corpse on Avenue Christophe. May 7, 2024
“Not a day goes by without someone being killed there or a corpse being thrown there,” declares a young man from Avenue Christophe in an attempt to explain the origin of the name.
Dressed entirely in black, the young man in his twenties is the only one among the passers-by who agreed to speak briefly to AyiboPost, while remaining particularly suspicious. He prefers to remain silent regarding the people responsible for these acts or the accusations made against the victims.
Day and night, death visits several other “kafou” in Port-au-Prince.
Persistent smoke in Maïs Gaté caused by the burning of human corpses. May 7, 2024
A resident of Maïs Gaté shows the bones of corpses on a pile of rubbish. May 7, 2024
At the entrance to Delmas 19 a few dozen meters from the airport road.
At Rue J. Baptiste in Delmas 33.
Or on avenue Maïs Gaté and rue Jaques Roumain where the prestigious building of the Ministry of Public Health and Population stands.
A restaurant in Maïs Gaté cannot operate due to the numerous executions and the dumping of corpses in its surroundings. May 7, 2024
In this area, for example, a car washer reports that he and his companions have already offered their services to vehicles stopping in front of their small washing business located on the side of the road. “But instead, we see hooded and heavily armed men coming down, forcing us to flee. »
Some attackers simply shoot their targets before leaving, the car washer continues. Others, he said, choose to burn the bodies.
Finally, he mentions those who take sadistic pleasure in burning their victims alive, thus leaving them no chance.
Dany Junior, one of the car washers on Avenue Maïs Gaté, is disturbed because his business is declining. “Since customers know that people are regularly killed here, they hardly come to have their cars washed anymore,” he explains.
When burned, the victims’ bodies effectively become unrecognizable.
Charred human skeletons were discovered on a pile of rubbish in Maïs Gaté. May 7, 2024
Thus, it becomes almost impossible for members of the population to check whether the remains of their missing loved ones are found among the piles of garbage, in a context where no public institution systematically counts the dead. No one will know precisely how many Haitians have died in recent years.
Unclaimed bodies end up being devoured by dogs.
Questioned on this subject, Exalus Jeanty Fils, director of the Coordination and Public Relations Unit (UCRP) of the MSPP, preferred to respond as a doctor rather than as a ministry official.
He recognizes that these corpses abandoned almost at the doors of the ministry on Avenue Maïs Gaté represent a public health problem, because they can lead to the spread of diseases.
A pile of rubbish not far from the MSPP. May 7, 2024
The MSPP, according to the doctor, manages waste and corpses at hospital level to avoid contamination and the spread of diseases. As soon as they find themselves on the public highway, the MSPP draws the attention of each sector concerned to the need to react, continues Fils. “But it is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs to take care of it via the town halls concerned,” he concludes.
The Tag Market intersection, at the corner of Faustin and Bois Patate streets, is also regularly associated with death.
According to several residents of Turgeau and Canapé Vert interviewed by AyiboPost, members of vigilance brigades, and sometimes police officers, go to the area to execute individuals suspected of banditry.
In addition, an unofficial court is established on rue Renne. Gang members are subjected to interrogation there before possibly being executed at the nearby Tag Market “kafou lanmò”.
“As soon as I hear gunshots in the middle of the night, I know someone has been executed,” a young resident of the area told AyiboPost. She works in administration and asks to remain anonymous for security reasons.
She adds that this sometimes happens “three or four times a week.” “The smoke and smells invade the houses,” she said. “The dogs feed on the remains of unburned corpses. It’s disturbing. It keeps you from sleeping. »
The shock of these executions causes stress and anxiety. “The problem with this reality is that it distorts us, it takes away our sensitivity,” warns Gihane Dejoie Mathurin, psychologist and member of the American Psychological Association.
The mutilated dead are seen from time to time on Rue Rivière, near the rectorate of the State University of Haiti.
Charred bodies near the rectorate of the State University of Haiti.
On March 8, 2024, a burning corpse could be seen in the area. A cabinetmaker who lives on the street told AyiboPost that he had seen two men the evening before bring another man to the side of the rectorate before executing him.
“They came back a few hours later to set the body on fire,” he said. Two other people in the area confirm this version of events.
For clinical psychologist Jacqueline Baussan, this is a sign that “death, however brutal and violent it may be by nature, no longer seems to cause fear, anguish, or compassion: it is trivialized.”
And this involves, above all, the trivialization of violence to which we are constantly exposed, whether on social networks or in our daily reality. By being sequestered, raped and tortured, “we ended up stealing our humanity,” Baussan believes.
And those who directly suffered this violence, those who are exposed to images of this violence “end up being deeply traumatized. »
Dead bodies and violent images can cause or accelerate different kinds of illness.
This generally manifests itself in hypertension, strong palpitations, back pain, sexual difficulties and many others, warns psychologist Gihane Dejoie Mathurin.
Improper handling of corpses can also pose a health risk.
According to general practitioner Yourry Ginel Richard “when we set fire to corpses, we are sure to contaminate the soil, the groundwater, depending on the area, and then those who will have access to this water”.
Inadequate handling can also facilitate the circulation of certain diseases such as HIV.
Par Rebecca Bruny et Widlore Mérancourt
The photos are by Jean Féguens Regala.
Cover image published by AyiboPost in which a resident of Maïs Gaté shows bones of corpses on a pile of rubbish. | © Jean Feguens Regala/AyiboPost
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